UVa pounds Memphis 78-60 to reach NCAA tournament regional semifinals

RALEIGH, N.C. — All season, Virginia has made a habit of being the last man standing in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Now, top-seed U.Va. is the ACC’s lone hope in the NCAA tournament.

U.Va. will head to New York City this week after a resounding 78-60 victory Sunday night against No. 8 seed Memphis in an NCAA tournament East Region third-round game before a heavily pro-U.Va. crowd at PNC Arena.

On Friday night, at about 10:10 p.m. in Madison Square Garden, U.Va. (30-6) will play in its first regional semifinal since 1995 when it takes on No. 4 seed Michigan State.

“I’ve never been to the Garden,” said U.Va. guard Justin Anderson minutes after the game. “That’s amazing. None of this stuff has hit me yet. I just told the team in the locker room, ‘It still hasn’t hit me that we just won a game to go to the Sweet 16.’”

With Duke, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and North Carolina State all eliminated from the tournament, U.Va. is the final representative from the ACC remaining. Not bad for a team that once had to wonder if it might have a tough time even reaching the tournament, much less earn a No. 1 seed, after getting off to a 9-4 start.

U.Va., which won the ACC’s regular-season title for the first time since ’81 and the conference tournament crown for the first time since ’76, took a 20-point lead with 10 minutes left and kept it for all but the last 19 seconds of the game. U.Va. tied a school-record for most victories in a season with the win.

“We feel like we may not match up man-for-man talent-wise, but we play a system and style of basketball that other teams are going to have to change and adjust to,” said guard Joe Harris, who led U.Va. with 16 points on 6 of 10 shooting from the floor.

In a matchup of offensive styles that were directly opposed to each other in terms of pace, U.Va.’s slow-and-steady was far more efficient. Memphis scored 18 points in transition, but many of the points came as it was trying to play catch-up from a double-digit deficit. Memphis shot 40.7 percent from the floor for the game.

“I think this tournament is so much about matchups, it really is,” U.Va. coach Tony Bennett said. “Everybody can make their statements, but I’m just thankful we’re standing. I don’t know what it means about us. All I know is we’re playing, and I’m thankful for that…I wish more ACC teams were in it, but the league is better than just one team in the Sweet 16.”

After taking a 35-20 halftime lead, U.Va. opened the second half by connecting on 11 of its first 15 shots from the floor. U.Va. finished the game shooting 55.6 percent, including 45.5 percent from 3-point range (5 of 11).

Anthony Gill added U.Va. with 13 points off the bench, while Mike Tobey finished with 11 points, and Malcolm Brogdon and Anderson each contributed 10 points. Austin Nichols, who was recruited by U.Va., led Memphis with 15 points.

U.Va. set the tone for the remainder of the game just before halftime, finishing the half on a 16-2 run. Memphis scored just one field goal in the final six minutes and 32 seconds of the first half.

U.Va. shot 56 percent from the floor in the first half, and held a 21-13 rebounding edge. Memphis made just 26.7 percent of its shots in the half, including 11.1 percent of its 3-point attempts (1 of 9).

“They’ve got to be the best defensive team I’ve ever played against in college,” said Memphis guard Joe Jackson, a four-year starter who entered the game leading the team with an average of 14.3 points per game, but who was held to seven points against U.Va. “The way they see the ball, never lose sight of the basketball, they help each out every possession. You will never get an easy layup on them.”

Neither team could build a lead of more than four points in the first 14 minutes, 20 seconds, but U.Va. gained some breathing room with some sharp perimeter shooting and a big defensive play.

Harris hit a 3-pointer with 5:37 left in the half to put U.Va. ahead 24-18. On the other end, Gill got above the rim to swat away a short jumper by Memphis’ Nick King, and London Perrantes extended U.Va.’s edge to 27-18 with 5:04 remaining with a 3-pointer.

“I knew if they were able to out-work us, if they were more physical than us, they’d have a field day,” U.Va. forward Akil Mitchell said. “If I was able to shut them down, and the guards were able to do their job in keeping (Memphis’) guards out of the paint, then I knew we had a chance.”

Memphis was led in the first half by Nichols’ six points, but he made just 3 of 8 shots from the floor. Tobey scored six points for U.Va. in the half, while Gill chipped in with five off the bench.

“Madison Square Garden – to get there, and certainly to play in the Sweet 16, we talked about that,” Bennett said. “You get to the Sweet 16, that’s the rarified air of college basketball and you’re going to have to play.”

RALEIGH, N.C. — By the time Virginia and Coastal Carolina finally took the court late Friday night, the number was 119. Since the NCAA tournament bracket expanded to 64 teams in 1985, No. 1 seeds were 119-0 against No. 16s.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Though Joe Harris and his Virginia teammates seemed as calm as could be Friday after their 70-59 win against Coastal Carolina in the NCAA tournament, Harris admitted he could sense nervous energy in PNC Arena earlier in the evening.